


A Bubble in Space

by Ancalime1



Series: Two Gays Floating Zero Feet Apart Because They're Gay and in Space [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Space Gays, Zero Gravity Shenanigans, if you're into that sort of thing, just two guys being gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 16:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15147152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ancalime1/pseuds/Ancalime1
Summary: Set post-Ragnarok on the Asgardian freighter. The communications array needs repairs, but Thor gets side-tracked. Compliant with my other piece "The Solace System," but it stands on its own.





	A Bubble in Space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thunderstruck (Blueyed_Impala)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueyed_Impala/gifts).



> Wrote this for my very good friend, @drawsndrabbles on tumblr! Basically she drew [this lovely picture right here](https://drawsndrabbles.tumblr.com/post/175120311737/theyre-in-love-scoob) and well, I just had to write something for it. Enjoy <333

A Bubble in Space

 ~~~

“Are you sure about this?” came Bruce’s voice from beside Thor.

The two were huddled in the small office of the Asgardian ship, seated directly opposite a poised but put-out Loki. Day One of drifting out in deep space had already caused the massive freighter to experience its first malfunction, preventing the Asgardians from broadcasting or receiving any transmissions. But Thor, being the sharp and intrepid leader that he was, had devised a plan—a plan which curiously involved both Loki and Bruce, and in that order no less.

“Absolutely,” said Thor, twirling a Sakaaran knick-knack between his fingers and grinning from ear to ear. “I trust Loki’s enchantments… a lot more than I trust him actually, so this should be fine.”

Loki rolled his eyes from behind the intricate tome that he was pretending to read. “Honestly. And you wonder why I’ve tried to kill you so many times,” he said, turning a page.

“It’s because you’ve tried to kill me that I don’t trust you,” said Thor pointedly. He folded his arms and turned to Bruce. “Listen, never mind him. If he does end up stranding us outside the ship, I’ll fly you to safety. Humans can survive for… what, thirty full seconds unprotected in space? Yeah, pretty sure it’s thirty seconds. So that gives me a pretty good window to rescue you, should you need it.”

“Yeah that’s... not very comforting,” said Bruce, casting a nervous glance at Loki. “I still don’t see why you need my help—you can fix the communications array by yourself, can’t you?”

Thor sighed wistfully. “I can’t, actually.”

“He can,” supplied an apathetic Loki.

“Shhhhhut up,” said Thor. He smiled pleasantly at Bruce. “I’d just really appreciate a second eye is all. A trained eye. If you don’t mind.”

Bruce began to wring his hands. “Yeah, but this—this isn’t really my field, though? I mean, I’m not Tony, you know.”

“Yes, thank the Allfathers,” said Thor. He paused. “I mean, what?”

Bruce gave Thor a stern look. “I’m serious. Like, not only is this not my field, this is  _alien tech_ we’re talking about. You honestly expect me to suddenly know how to fix your spaceship just because you bat your eyelashes at me?”

“Would… batting my eyelashes at you make you more likely to try?” asked Thor, his expression painfully sincere.

Bruce gave him an exasperated look. “Did you really just ask me that?”

Thor stared at him searchingly, then pressed a palm to his forehead in defeat. “Fine, you don’t have to help me if you don’t want to. But listen—if I mess something up and end up blasting the whole ship to Hel, then that’s on me. I’d much rather work with someone that I trust to ensure that that doesn’t happen.”

“Essentially what he’s saying is that, in spite of the fact that he’s perfectly capable of doing the job by himself, he really doesn’t trust his own abilities all that well and would much rather have someone hold his hand through it,” translated Loki.

Thor opened and closed his mouth several times as if to retaliate, but settled instead for “That… is not inaccurate.”

Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh, jeez,” he muttered, somehow looking even more tired than Thor had previously thought possible. “Thor, of all the things I had you pegged for, having a low self-esteem was not one of them.”

“So you’ll help?” said Thor, grinning.

Bruce blushed at the sight. “Uh… yeah, you know what, fine,” he said, lips twitching. “But… one thing first.” His eyes immediately darted over to Loki, who had abandoned his book and was now regarding the two of them with a venomous stare. “I really, _really_ don’t feel comfortable leaving my life in his hands.”

“Oh, spare me,” said Loki, pushing himself from his seat in a dramatic huff. “In no way would eliminating you or my brother benefit me at the present moment, so there really wouldn’t be a point. Might actually be more of a headache for me than anything. I mean, could you imagine the uproar I’d have to deal with if the both of you had vanished?”

“A fair point,” said Thor.

“Oh my God,” said Bruce.

“In any case,” continued Loki, “I’m not the one you need to worry about, Bruce.” He paused, eyes narrowing. “How is your green friend, by the by?”

Bruce flushed at this, and immediately shrank back. “Maybe this isn’t such a good plan after all,” he murmured.

“Nonsense,” said Thor, patting Bruce on the back. “Loki, cease thy prattling, thou punk-ass bitch.”

For once, Loki looked quite taken aback. “Wow. That was… wow,” he said, evidently at a loss for words. He sighed and took his seat once more. “Very well. But, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Duly noted. And what of your protective enchantments?” said Thor.

“They’ve already been cast.”

“Wonderful,” said Thor, grinning. He turned to Bruce. “Shall we?”

“We shall,” sighed Bruce, trailing after Thor out of the office.

 ~~~

“Okay,” said Bruce, wringing his hands together. “Walk me through these… enchantments, again?”

“Loki’s created a sort of force-field around the ship that will protect you from the harsh environment of space,” explained Thor excitedly. “Heat, breathable air, all those things that you humans need. Like a small atmosphere, if you will. A sort of bubble in space.”

“Magic,” sighed Bruce, folding his arms into his chest. “Fantastic.”

“‘Magic is just science we don’t understand yet,’” recited Thor gravely. “Jane Foster, circa 2011. Boom.”

Bruce gave him a bewildered look. “Arthur C. Clarke,” he corrected.

“What about him?”

“He said that. Not Jane Foster.”

“Oh. Well, Jane’s better.”

Bruce shook his head and sighed. “Here’s the thing, though: Magic isn’t _empirical_ or _falsifiable_ , hence why we can’t understand it. At least, not in a scientific sense.”

“Well. Maybe _you_ can’t,” huffed Thor, fastening a rope he’d found to the inside of the hatch. He paused, and considered this for a moment. “Although… I can’t either, I suppose. I’m not much of an empiricist myself.”

“Right,” muttered Bruce, tying his end of the rope onto his belt. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and sighed in resignation. “Well, if nothing else… I trust you, Thor.”

Thor looked up from his ropework and stared at Bruce in surprise. “Thanks,” he said, a shy grin spreading across his face. He rose and paused beside the control panel by the hatch. “Ready?”

Bruce dipped his head. “Yeah,” he said, a brief shudder running through his body. “Ready.”

Thor nodded, then activated the airlock override. With a pressurized hiss, the hatch slowly slid open, and the two were immediately drawn out through the airlock chamber and into the blackness of space.

Of course, it wasn’t sheer blackness per se—more like a canopy of colors sprayed over a base of black—deep blues and violets billowing out into clouds of space dust, freckled here and there with little clusters of stars. Thor immediately felt his heart flutter at the sight. Sure, he’d flown through space a thousand times over, his voyages to and through the Nine Realms having familiarized him with most every moon, every starway, every backwater cosmic dump the universe had to offer (except for Sakaar, which was a fairly recent development). Yet the feeling of drifting out amongst the cosmos itself had never gotten old. Even now he grinned as the familiar sensation of weightlessness took over his body, and a feeling of warmth glowed inside his chest like a newborn star.

He glanced over at Bruce, who flailed for all of five seconds before fully registering that the ground had indeed disappeared beneath him. When he came to however, his face immediately lit up with excitement at his star-flecked surroundings, and he couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh wow, oh wow, oh _wow,_ ” he said, his eyes sparkling with awe and starlight. He gently pushed off from the ship, and stared in fascination as he slowly drifted away. “Oh, this is amazing! It’s like—it’s like being in a swimming pool, but minus the drag? I—I feel so light!”

Thor chuckled, then likewise kicked off from the ship and allowed himself to float beside the doctor. “Having fun, Banner?”

Bruce immediately froze. “Oh, I um,” he began shakily. Quickly he adjusted his collar and cleared his throat, trying to appear casual. “Let’s—let’s just try and get this done as soon as possible, okay?”

“Oh, come _on_ ,” said Thor, bobbing excitedly beside him like an otter in a stream. He did a little spin and slowly floated away from Bruce and the ship, his cloak billowing out behind him like a sail. “Haven’t you ever wondered what it feels like to _fly_?”

“Er, no,” said Bruce, a bit too quickly.

A frown. “Never?”

“Never.” He cleared his throat again. “So, about that antenna… ”

“Oh, the antenna isn't going anywhere,” insisted Thor. He took Bruce’s hands in his own and gave him a warm smile. “Come on. Dance with me?”

Bruce’s mouth twitched. “Huh, so _that’s_ why you brought me out here. For your... your… zero-gravity _shenanigans_.”

“Hey! Not true,” said Thor, grin vanishing. “I mean, well, I thought it might relax you. It generally relaxes me.”

“Floating around in giant death-vacuums relaxes you, huh?” said Bruce, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, when you put it like that….”

Bruce waved his hand dismissively. “It’s okay, you don’t need to explain yourself.” He sighed. “Okay, enough fooling around—let’s fix this antenna.”

Thor gave him a bemused look, but mumbled in agreement. He extended his hand towards Bruce, who hesitated slightly before taking it. As soon as he did though, the corners of Thor’s mouth turned up into a small, half-smile, and he squeezed Bruce’s hand and immediately pulled him against his chest. This was met with a muffled squeak of surprise (and a hidden grin) as Thor gently propelled them towards the communications array.

“You—you can fly through space,” stammered Bruce, peeking over Thor’s shoulder, eyes round with wonder. “Did I know that? I don’t think I knew that…”

“Oh, you like that, do ya?” said Thor, waggling his eyebrows.

Bruce’s face softened into a shy grin. “It’s… pretty cool, I’ll give you that.”

Thor gave him a fond look before halting besides the oddly colored communications array. Gesturing to the mess of wires and satellite dishes, he murmured, “Alright Banner, what do you make of that?”

Bruce squinted at the cluttered array and made to adjust a nonexistent pair of glasses. “Uh. It looks like a mess, that’s for sure.” He pulled himself closer to the array and inspected one of the dishes. “Looks to me like this antenna just needs to be realigned. My guess is that some kind of debris knocked it out of place, like a small space rock or something.”

“Or an exploding planet,” said Thor softly.

“Or… that,” said Bruce. “Um. Would you mind handing me that… wrench-looking thing?”

“Oh, sure.” Thor reached for the Sakaaran toolbelt at his waist, and selected an item most resembling a wrench. Wordlessly he handed it to Bruce, who looked a touch concerned.

Thor sighed, as if reading Bruce’s mind. “I can see you, you know,” he said, causing the doctor’s cheeks to turn quite red. “And I’m alright, I promise.”

Bruce cleared his throat. “Yeah, but...”

“But what?”

“Um. Never mind.”

“Banner…”

Bruce gave him a critical look. “It’s just—are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been through a lot—”

“Of course I’m sure,” cut in Thor, a slight note of irritation in his voice. “Why would I lie to you?”

“Right, no, I know.” Bruce sighed. He turned towards the communications array, and fastened the wrench-object around the offending antenna. Stealing a quick glance at Thor, he said in a soft voice, “But you know, it _is_ okay to… not be okay.”

Thor’s eyebrows knitted together. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think you know.”

Thor considered this for a moment. “I know it’s okay,” he said, folding his arms to his chest. “But honestly, I feel fine. Great, even.”

“Do you, now?”

“Yes,” insisted Thor. Quietly he added, “My people need me to be.”

“Your people need you to be _you_ ,” corrected Bruce, not bothering to look up from his work. “It’s okay to grieve.”

Again Thor opened his mouth to retaliate, but had evidently thought better of it. Bruce of all people would understand what he was going through—perhaps he was right.

“There,” said Bruce, patting the satellite dish. “That should do it— _oof!”_

“Banner!” gasped Thor, immediately propelling himself towards the other man, whose rope had caught around one of the protruding ledges of the ship. This had caused him to jerk backwards suddenly so that he was spiraling back towards the communications array, which he would have surely crashed into had Thor not managed to catch him just in time.

“Steady, Banner,” said Thor softly, gripping Bruce’s shoulders to still him. “Banner! Eyes on me.”

“Yeah. Okay,” gasped Bruce, his eyes wide. He sucked in a deep breath and clung to Thor like a Koala to a tree. “Oh, man.”

“You’re okay,” said Thor, running his hand in smooth, rhythmic strokes against the doctor’s back. “You’re safe now. Do—do you want me to take you back?”

Thor felt Bruce shake his head. “No,” came his muffled response. “No. I’m okay. I just—I just need to breathe for a sec.”

“Right.” Thor nodded, holding him close. He could feel Bruce’s heart pounding rapidly against his chest, and for a brief and terrifying moment, he wondered if the Hulk might pay them a visit. Yet with each second that ticked by, Thor could steadily feel the other man relaxing, heart rate gradually returning to normal. He sighed in relief and held Bruce close.

Allowing him a few more moments to recover first, Thor murmured, “I guess I should take you back now.”

“No!” gasped Bruce, a bit too quickly. “Wait. Not yet.” He loosened his grip around Thor. His eyes were wide, but there was still that faint trace of wonder, that same sparkle from before. He took a deep breath and gave Thor a soft smile. “Before we go... you owe me a dance.”

Thor whooped and nearly threw the other man in excitement. “Yes!” he shouted, gleefully punching the air. “Wait. I thought you hated it out here?”

“What? I never said that,” said Bruce, steadying himself against the ship. “I mean it’s a little nerve-wracking, yeah, but I mean, do you see where we are? We’re in space, Thor! We’re in space!” He gestured wildly to their surroundings, to the distant starfield swirling with violets and blues and every hue between. “I mean, there’s no way in hell that I’d ever pass this kind of opportunity up.” He paused, his lips turning into a slight smile. “Plus, I did end up doing all of the work for you. So you owe me one.”

Thor grinned, and playfully launched himself at Bruce. He caught the smaller man in his arms, swung him around, and pulled him close so that their bodies were flush against each other. He could feel Bruce’s heart thrumming against his chest as they drifted, hips brushing softly against his own and causing that warm, giddy feeling to return. He sighed happily as Bruce nestled into the crook of his shoulder—he had to admit, Bruce was a lot more cuddly than he looked.

“You don’t seem so scared now,” he remarked as they drifted beside the ship. Slowly, half-consciously, he ventured a hand to the doctor’s head and began to run his fingers through his curls.

“Yeah, well… I’ve got you,” said Bruce, sighing contentedly. He shifted against Thor’s chest, and began to trace vague patterns into his back. “You think we’ll ever get back to earth?”

“Of course,” said Thor, voice low and reassuring. “My people—they’re counting on it. And you are too.” He let out a breathy sigh, sinking into Bruce’s arms and indulging in his warmth. “Still, I could get used to this.”

Bruce nodded against his chest, then wrapped his arms tighter around Thor, pulling him close so that there was no space left between them. “Yeah,” he murmured, his breath a warm stellar breeze that sent a delighted shiver down Thor’s spine. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! Comments and feedback are greatly appreciated. Also feel free to check me out at @faramir-in-space on tumblr <333


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